Baseball mitt or glove



June 30, 1942. H. B. LATINA BASEBALL MITT OR GLOVE Filed April 14, 19412 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 30, 1942. H. B; LATINA 2,288,467

BASEBALL MI'I'T on GLOVE Filed April 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJune 30, 1942 BASEBALL MITT OR GLOVE Harry B. Latina, East St. Louis,111., assignor to Rawlings Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo., acorporation of Missouri Application April 14, 1941, Serial No. 388,451

Claims.

This invention relates to baseball mitts and gloves.

One object of the invention is to provide a mitt or glove, which, inaddition to having an adjustable, built-in, ball-receiving pocket of thekind described in the pending application for patent of Elmer Nolte andHarry B. Latina, Serial No. 331,924, filed April 2'7, 1940, isconstructed in a novel manner that greatly enhances or improves thegripping or clamping action of the mitt on a caught ball.

Another object is to provide a baseball mitt or glove in which thecurved or segmental-shaped curb member at the heel of the mitt, isconstructed in a novel manner that imparts great flexibility to the mittand insures the palm portion of same naturally assuming a cupped shapeor form in the operation of catching a ball, even when the mitt is new.

Another object is to provide a baseball mitt or glove which hasincorporated in same, a palm pad made of cushion rubber, such as foamrubher, or sponge rubber, thereby making unnecessary the common practiceamong baseball players, of using an ordinary sponge positioned in thepalm of the hand before inserting the hand into a conventional mitt, soas to provide extra padding for the mitt.

And still another object of my invention is to provide a baseball mittor glove in which the padding material is permanently anchored orconnected, preferably by an adhesive, to a backing or back piece formedfrom a piece of leather or other suitable flexible sheet material.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a perspective view of a baseball mittconstructed in accordance with my present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view, illustrating the lacing that is used toadjust the curb member or variable heel portion, so as to change thedepth, shape and/or size of the ball-receiving pocket, or to alter thelocation or position of said pocket.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the padding unit.

Figure 4 is an end view or edge view of said padding unit.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the padding unit.

Figure 6 is a sectional view, taken on the line 6--6 of Figure 3.

Figure '7 is a perspective view of the sponge rubber or foam rubber palmpad that is incorporated in the padding unit.

Figure 8 illustrates the mitt positioned on the users hand.

Figure 9 is a plan view of the padding unit with the leather backing orback piece of said unit broken away so as to show the padding materialthat is permanently attached to said back piece; and

Figure 10 is a fragmentary view, illustrating a slight modification ofmy invention. 7

While I have illustrated my invention, embodied in a catchers mitt, Iwish it to be understood that the invention is applicable to fingeredbaseball gloves, such as fielders gloves and first basemens gloves. InFigure l of the drawings A designates the palm portion of the mitt, andB designates as an entirety, an adjustable curb member or variable heelportion of the kind referred to in said Nolte and Latina application,that constitutes a relatively deep retaining wall for a built-in,ball-receiving pocket, and l designates a leather shell that forms thewear-resisting surface of the portions A and B of the mitt. In baseballmitts of conventional construction, the padding of the mitt comprises asubstantially flat base piece of the approximate shape or outline of themitt, usually formed from relatively thick or heavy felt, and having acurved or segmental-shaped pad attached to the marginal edge of same,said curved or segmental-shaped pad being continuous and extendingunbrokenly across the inner end or heel end of the palm portion of themitt. Due to the fact that said curved pad is relatively thick and wideand extends transversely across the heel end of the palm portion, itretards the natural tendency of said palm to fold, double or closearound a ball that is caught in the mitt.

My improved mitt is distinguished from the conventional baseball mitt,principally in that the curved or segmental-shaped pad above referredto, is divided or separated, usually at a point in approximatelylongitudinal alignment with the crotch C of the mitt, thereby producinga mitt whose palm portion has a natural tendency to fold, double orclose around a caught ball. It is also distinguished from theconventional mitt, in that one or both sections of said divided, curvedor segmental-shaped pad are combined with adjustable lacings or similardevices, so as to produce a variable curb member or members that can bemanipulated or adjusted to vary the depth, shape, dimensions and/orlocation of a built-in ball-receiving pocket. It is furtherdistinguished from the conventional baseball mitt, in that the paddingmaterial is permanently combined with a leather back piece, so as toproduce a complete padding unit that has a palm pad of cushion rubber,incorporated in same.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4 and 5, the padding unit of my improved mittcomprises a base piece D, cut to the approximate shape or outlinedesired for the finished mitt, and two segmentalshaped or curved pads Dand D attached to the peripheral edge portion of said base piece D andseparated from each other by a gap or space 0:, as shown in Figures 3and 4. Usually, the base piece D and the curved pads D and Dsuperimposed thereon, will be formed from pieces of relatively thick orheavy felt, the curved pads being attached to the base piece by stitches2 looped over the curved pads and inserted in the base piece. Thelocation of the gap as may vary somewhat, but usually said gap will bedisposed at the heel end of the mitt in approximately longitudinalalignment with the crotch C of the mitt. between the pads D and D at theheel end of the palm portion, produces a flexible mitt that has anatural tendency to fold or hinge along a line extending approximatelyfrom the crotch of the mitt to a point near the users wrist, as 1,

shown in Figure 8, when the mitt is functioning to catch and retain aball. In order that the mitt will have the desirable features andcharacteristics of the fingered baseball glove disclosed in the N olteandLatina application, previously referred to, one or more adjustablelacings are provided for adjusting one or both of the curved pads D andD In the form of my invention shown in Figure l the adjustable curbportion B of the mitt isformed by the curved pad D, a casing for saidpad formed by the piece of leather or other suitable material thatconstitutes the front side of the mitt, and a lacing 3' engaged with theopposed side parts of said casing, said lacing being adapted to bemanipulated by tightening or loosening the same, so as to change thecross-sectional shape and/or dimensions of said pad, or to change thecurvature or longitudinal shape of said pad to shift or alter thelocation of the ball-receiving pocket of the mitt. The lacing 3 passesthrough eyelets or holes in the leather shell I of the glove, disposedso that the lacing 3 can be positioned between the base piece D and thesegmental pad D of the padding unit andlaced back and forth, as shown inFigure 2, through the eyelets or holes in the opposed side parts of theportion of the shell that serves as a casing for the curb D, therebyproducing a relatively sharp'angle or corner in the shell I of the gloveat the junction of the palm portion A and the curb portion B. Usually,it will be sufficient to provide a lacing for only the segmental pad ofcurb member D, as the combination of such a pad and lacing produces amitt having a well defined, built-in, ball receiving pocket that is easyto adjust or vary, so as to adapt the mitt to the particular user. Ifdesired, however, the other curved pad or curved member D located on theother side of the gap an in the padding element, may be provided with alacing 3 as shown in Figure 10, that can be manipulated or adjusted soas to change the cross-sectional shape and/or dimensions of theauxiliary curb member and also produce a corner or angle in the shell Iof the glove at the junction of the base piece D and the pad D of thepadding element, thereby producing a ball receiving pocket having arelatively high or This particular arrangement of the gap 4 deep curbportion that extends-around the major 7 portion of the pocket.

One feature of my improved baseball mitt or glove that adds greatly toits commercial utility and overcomes the common practice among ballplayers of placing an ordinary sponge in the palm of the hand beforepositioning the mitt or glove on the hand, is that it is provided with apalm pad E (see Figure 7) made of cushion rubber, such as sponge rubberor foam rubber. This palm pad E is built into the glove so that it formsan integral part thereof, and as it performs practically the samefunction as an ordinary sponge positioned in the palm of the users hand,it greatly simplifies the operation of using themitt or glove.Preferably, the rubber palm pad E' is set in a depression or recess inthe rear side or underside of the base piece D of the padding unit, asshown in Figures 3, 5 and 6, and is secured in position preferably by anadhesive. Said rubber palm pad E may be of any preferred shape and size,but I prefer to proportion it so that it extends over substantially theentire area of that part of the padding of the mitt which serves as aback stop for a caught ball. It may correspond in shape to the generaloutline or shape of the curb or raised portion of the padding elementformed by the two segmentalshaped pads D and D Another detail ofconstruction that I prefer to embody in my improved mitt or glove is aback piece or backing made of a piece of leather or other relativelyflexible material t permanently attached to the base piece D of thepadding unit and projecting laterally beyond the peripheral edge of saidbase piece, as shown in Figure 9. Eyelets or openings 5 in thelaterally-projecting peripheral portion of the backing l are adapted toreceive a lacing 5 (shown in Figure 1) that passes through holes oreyelets in the leather shell I that constitutes the front side of themitt.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A baseball mitt or glove provided with a ballreceiving pocket thatcomprises a padded, curblike portion built into'the' mitt at the heelend of the pocket and located on the underside of thepiece of materialthat constitutes the front side of the mitt, said curb-like portionhaving a gap, space or joint intermediate its ends so as to im partgreater flexibility to the mitt, and means for enabling the user tochange the cross-sectional shape of at least one section of saidcurb-like portion so as to vary the shape, dimensions or location of theball-receiving pocket.

2'. A baseball mitt or glove provided with a shell of leather or othersuitable material that forms the front side of the mitt, a paddingcomprising a base piece to which a substantially deep or thick, curvedpad is attached so as to form a curbelike'pcrtion at the heel end of thepalm portion of' the glove, said curved pad having a gap or joint formedin same intermediate its ends, and an adjustable lacing for drawing theshell into the corner formed by the junction of said base pad and atleast one section of said curved pad.

3. A baseball mitt or glove whose palm portion comprises padding formedby a relatively thick piece of felt, and a piece of cushion or spongerubber set in a depression or recess on: the back or underside of saidpiece of felt and secured-to same, so as to constitute asponge-like palmpad,

4. A baseball mitt or glove provided with a padding unit composed of aback piece of leather or other suitable flexible material, a base pieceof padding material of substantial thickness secured to said back piece,a substantially segmental-shaped or curved pad attached to said basepiece at the peripheral edge of same, and a palm pad of sponge rubber orfoam rubber, interposed between said leather backing and base piece andsecured in a recess on the underside of said base piece.

5. A baseball mitt or glove, comprising a shell of leather or the likethat constitutes the front side of the mitt, a padding unit comprising abase piece of felt or the like conforming to the general shape oroutline of the mitt, a segmental-shaped or curved pad attached to theperipheral edge portion of said base piece, said curved pad beingprovided intermediate its ends with a gap or joint disposed insubstantially longitudinal alignment with the crotch of the mitt, anadjustable lacing combined with at least one section of said curved padfor drawing the shell towards the corner formed by the junction of saidbase piece and curved pad section, a palm pad made of cushion rubberincorporated in said base piece,

and a back piece of leather or the like secured by an adhesive to theunderside of said base piece and provided at its peripheral edge witheyelets or openings for receiving a lacing that is engaged with theperipheral portion of the shell of the mitt.

HARRY B. LATINA.

